It's impossible to leave Carrot Top's show without a smile on your face

The Reigning King of Props

Carrot Top Gets Serious About His Remarkable Career

BY HEATHER TURK / PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOB BURCHESS

Carrot Top has been the butt of many jokes over the years, but the longtime Las Vegas headliner doesn't mind.

"I always say I love when people rip on me," the humble comedian, whose real name is Scott Thompson, said. "I don't think I've ever been hurt by someone's remarks, and people talk about me all the time. It's always usually funny."

A staple at Luxor Hotel and Casino since 2005, Carrot Top celebrated 40 years in comedy this past February—the same month he turned 60 years old. Best known for his trunks full of hilarious props, the comedian puts on one of the Entertainment Capital of the World's funniest shows. A manic mix of stand-up and prop comedy, the fast-paced production always leaves audience members breathless from laughing so hard.

Chic Compass recently caught up with the legendary comedian to talk about his career and his hit Las Vegas residency, which thanks to a recent five-year contract extension, shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

Chic Compass: First off, congratulations on celebrating 40 years in comedy. Looking back at when you first started off as a comedian to people seeing you in Las Vegas at Luxor Hotel and Casino today, how would you say your act has evolved over the past four decades?

Carrot Top: That's a good word—the show really has evolved so exponentially. Even the aspect of the digital screen behind us has added so much to the show. Sometimes I don't have to make a certain prop, I can just show it. It's a great new way to get a joke across.

Some friends of mine came to the show recently and said, "Man, your show has changed so much." Not only does the content change—it's very current-event stuff—but there's a lot more stand-up in the show. There's a lot more storytelling that I never used to do, and I'm guessing it came about in two ways. One was during COVID, we had the restrictions on how many people could be in the audience and the distance between people. I was thinking, "My God, I am holding up props and they can't really see them or my facial expressions so well." So, I started telling more stories that didn't necessarily involve a prop, but the video wall would help emphasize the joke. Then, the other part was when I broke my leg snowboarding [in 2019], and I was stuck on a knee scooter for five months. That made the whole show change drastically. I couldn't run around and grab props, so really most of the show ended up being me on a scooter telling stories. When I got back on all twos, it just worked so well that the show stayed that way. Now that I've been in the business 40 years, people are enjoying learning my story.

Chic Compass: During your show, you always share with audiences the clip of you competing on "Star Search" back in the day. Obviously, losing that did not hurt your career at all. Do you think things would have been any different had you won?

Carrot Top: That's a great question. I have no idea. It was an honor just to be on that show. I was supposedly the sure winner before it even started—that was the talk around the comedy clubs—so I love showing the clip because I love the self-deprecation part of comedy. I think that's one reason why it is in the show. In fact, just the other day someone said, "You put that in the show, it's so funny, but had you won, would you put it in the show?" No, because it wouldn't be funny if I showed me winning "Star Search." The funny part is that I'm willing to show that I lost.

Chic Compass: I know you don't joke about politics too much during your show, but as I'm sure you are aware, the world is very divided today and people are very sensitive about politics in comedy. Does that affect your act at all? Or, if you think something is funny, do you just throw it in the show and hope for the best?

Carrot Top: I'm pretty good about knowing if something is not going to go over well with everybody. I'm not one of those people who feed off of making someone uncomfortable. That's never been my style. I want everyone to have fun, so if I do anything political, it's usually something that revolves around an impression of something; I'm not making fun of the person. I did a joke the other night about the tariffs. I give out a shot of Crown Royal to someone in the audience every night—a little teeny bottle of Crown—and the other night I said, "This is what I used to give out," and it was this big jumbo-sized bottle of Crown. Then I held up the little one. That got a great laugh because it's pointing out a fact that with the tariffs, the Canadian whisky that we get will be slightly smaller and more expensive. It wasn't really a political joke, it was more observational—reading the newspaper and understanding what topics are out there and what people are talking about.

Chic Compass: While your show features a mix of stand-up and prop comedy, you are still best known for your props. I'm guessing you've made thousands of props over the past four decades. Do you have a favorite?

Carrot Top: There are a lot of jokes in the show that are go-tos that always work, and it's good to have those in your arsenal. The one prop that I'm the proudest of, though, isn't in the show anymore. It was the paper cups and string telephone. If I was going to go into the Smithsonian and they gave me one thing to put in there, that's what I would put in. It was very inventive and clever at the time I thought of it. The joke was that we needed a new version of the paper cups and string telephone that had a second cup for call waiting, a third cup for call conference calling and a clear cup for caller ID. George Carlin told me, "That is the funniest, most clever thing I've ever seen in my life."

Chic Compass: You recently extended your contract at Luxor Hotel and Casino through 2030. What is your favorite thing about performing in Las Vegas? Is it the audience coming to you? Is it having a steady place to work on things every day?

Carrot Top: It's a combination of those things. We still do some road shows, but I think having the residency here makes the road a lot easier. You know you're coming back to this gig, so you're not stuck on the road for a year straight.

Plus, Las Vegas is the Entertainment Capital of the World. It's pretty cool to get to play Las Vegas and be surrounded by some of the biggest names in the business. On any given night you can have the Eagles, Lady Gaga, the Rolling Stones and Elton John performing. Las Vegas is the place to be, and the fact that I get to be part of it full time is amazing. And I get to go home every night. I get to get into a rhythm and have somewhat of a normal life and sleep in my own bed.

Being in Las Vegas, it's a wonderful thing. There's nothing better than this town and it's a beautiful city. I mean, right now I'm looking at the mountains. People don't realize there are mountains here and they're beautiful. I've just been beyond blessed to have a residency that's lasted this long.

Chic Compass: You always look like you're genuinely having so much fun onstage. What is it about your job that gets you excited to come to work each night?

Carrot Top: Because I've done this so long, I get a lot of fan mail. I get incredible letters from people who have come to the show because their mom just died and they needed an outlet [to laugh]. Their dog just died. Something tragic just happened. During my meet and greet, I get people who say, "I've got about a week to live and my bucket list is to see you." So, that's the kind of stuff that goes through your brain and you just enjoy the moment for them.

Chic Compass: Mark Twain once said, "Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life." Given your love for what you do, how much of your Las Vegas residency do you actually consider work at this point?

Carrot Top: Well, I mean it's always work in a sense because every night is different. You can't live off of last night's crowd. We do new jokes every day almost and that's where the work part comes in because you got to really work at it. Otherwise, I would be doing the same show for the rest of my life. You've got to grow as an entertainer. You've got to give people new stuff and show them that you're working. There are some old jokes that I keep doing that feel like my classics that people expect to see, but then there are new things. The show is always a work in progress. We're never satisfied with it, so it always continues to grow.

Chic Compass: Having been in this business for 40 years, is there any advice you would like to pass on to comedians just starting out?

Carrot Top: The key thing would be to find out what it is exactly that's going to be your story when you're up onstage—what's your whole gimmick going to be? Is it going to be silly? Is it going to be observational? Is it going to be props, is it going to be relationship material, or will it be a variety of things? The first time you get onstage, you want to kind of figure it out and then you can grow from there. Mine was props when I first got into it, and then I grew from there and started doing more stand-up.

I think the only advice I would give to people is to enjoy the ride and enjoy the process. In the last 10 years, I've just sat back and said, "Gosh, enjoy this journey." Enjoy every second of it. Enjoy each show and each moment and soak it in.

Chic Compass: Finally, you appeared on an episode of "Hacks" last year. Do you have any other upcoming projects that fans can look forward to?

Carrot Top: It's always hard to announce things right away, but there's always things happening. That's what's fun about this job, too. I mean, when that "Hacks" thing happened, I was watching an episode of it and they mentioned me. I called my agency and I said, "I think it would be pretty funny if I went on the show since they're talking about me." So, my agency called them and they were ecstatic.

I'm pretty happy, though, with everything I've gotten to do. In this town, you see a lot of down, and I've always felt blessed that I'm healthy and in a career that I want to do and have been successful at. I've got a show every night at the Luxor, I get to make people laugh and I have a roof over my head—I've got it good.

Carrot Top performs Monday through Saturday at 8 p.m. inside Luxor Hotel and Casino, with additional 8 p.m. performances on Sept. 7 and Oct. 12. The show will be dark Sept. 8-13, Oct. 13-18 and on Oct. 31. In celebration of Carrot Top’s 40 years in comedy milestone, tickets start at only $40 on select dates. For tickets, visit carrottop.com.